Vivandiere Modding Tutorial

[mlleviolet]

Comments

[jess_faraday]

Wow, that is super! Thank for the step-by-step as well!

I have a suede shirt that is dying to be made into a jacket.

[mlleviolet]

You're welcome! It's really not so hard though suede might be tricker, but if it's thin enough, you can do it by hand.

[fllnangel17]

Love the costume, as well as the inspiration!

[mlleviolet]

Thanks!

[veniceparrish]

This really turned out well. You used a lot of creativity in re-making items. I have to wonder what putting a fluffy, black petticoat under it would do toward giving it that nice, full skirt look though.....

[mlleviolet]

Yeah I didn't have one the right length, it would have hung out the bottom and that's not accurate. They were probably wearing petticoats, but also, their skirts had so many more pleats. Mine was supposed to be I ran out of fabric. The skirt really should be many, many narrower pleats and that will add volume. Also they probably wore corsets, the bottom illustration definitely is corseted, so that would also help with the illusion of volume.

A short nylon dance petticoat would add the right volume but it might be better to remake the skirt as I wouldn't want the petticoat to show at all while I was sitting, as there is nothing froufrou about a vivandiere!

[jenthompson]

You look fabulous!!! I love seeing how you did all the mods, and it's great to see somebody else inspired by vivandiere clothing.

[mlleviolet]

Thank you! Your jacket mod was a big inspiration, although I didn't have the patience to sew on all those ball buttons like you did! There is a certain amount of overlap between Zoauve and Vivandiere, some of their jackets were very similar.

[bazjra]

I've seen reenactment sites sell the little barrels, but I can't for the life of me remember where. I don't think it would be too far of a stretch to use a gourd canteen -- in that era, gourds and 'modern' canteens were used side by side. They're fairly easy to make. Depending on how last year's gourd crop turns out (so many thin shells!), I'll be making and selling a few canteens later this summer.

[mlleviolet]

Yeah, they can be purchased but are very expensive! This was a super-cheap costume, I only had to buy the red trim and studs, everything else was lying around the house. I tried carrying a little round canteen but it just didn't look right. Their barrel canteens were fairly large and it really would be kind of awkward to carry around. I was thinking of a small one like a St. Bernarnd's just for show. Really I'd love to carry a plastic sword but just too wary of the NYPD's attitude towards fake weaponry (fake guns are illegal here).